“Do what again? Come to a meeting with me?”
Ashley smiled gently. “The next time I’m not going to answer the phone. The next time you bounce a check, you’re in charge.”
“I’m not going to do that again.”
“Then that makes it much more easier for you.”
“What’s got into you?”
“I’m kicking ass and taking names. The biz is doing great, but I’m going to sell it. I hope I’m going to New York.” Ashley put the statement out there. She wasn’t going to dodge anything anymore.
“You’re deserting me?” The fear was back in her sister’s eyes, and Ashley felt the familiar urge to reassure her, to tell her that she wasn’t deserting her, that she would always be there, but David had been right.
“No. This is what you need.”
Val grabbed her hand, her fingers digging into Ashley’s skin, but Val didn’t know what she was doing. That was always the problem. “I can’t work this without you.”
“That may be, but you’re not working it with me very well, so I’m not sure it makes a difference.”
Val stood and started to pace. There were certain similarities with David. She’d never tell him, but it was probably a lot of the reason it was so easy to fall in love. These two people whom she loved most of all. These two people who needed her most of all.
“These aren’t your words. You’ve been talking to him, haven’t you?”
“No, I haven’t talked to David since he left, but he’s right. I’ve been there every time you’ve had a crisis. Always ready to prop you back up, and when that happens, you don’t think you can prop yourself back up, and you have to know that. You have to know that you can do this. I’m your bunny slippers, Val. Sometimes you have to fly without them.”
“You can’t do this to me.” Her sister’s voice was louder now. Her hands were on her hips.
Ashley looked away. “I have to.”
“What about Brianna?”
This time, Ashley turned back because this was Val the manipulator speaking. This time, Ashley would fight back. Her voice was low and calm, but for nearly two weeks she’d practiced these words in her head. “Ah, yes, your daughter. Think about her, Val. Think about your daughter. Next time, Aunt Ash won’t be there. Grandma will, but I wouldn’t count on Grandma. You need to count on Val.” It was hard talk for Ashley. The tone and words felt foreign to her, but it was time.
“I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can. You’ve told yourself that you can’t for so long that you believe it. Go to your meetings. Go to your job. Take care of your daughter. You’ll learn something. You’ll learn that you can.”
Val stared at her, expecting Ashley to give in because Ashley always gave in, but this time Ashley wasn’t, and eventually Val figured it out. “You’re leaving?”
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“I’m getting on a plane tomorrow. I don’t know what’ll happen, but I have to try. I love him. I’m going to be with him. I’m going to be happy. That’s my dream. I want my dream, and you’re not going to take it away.”
Val’s face paled and she took a step back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that to you.”
“I know. But you did. And we’re fixing it.”
“LADIES AND GENTS, it’s bad weather in New York. The fog on the east coast is killing visibility, and we’re waiting on the plane to get here. It’s in the air, and should be here within half an hour. I apologize for the delay, and appreciate the patience. Sit tight, and I promise we’ll be boarding within the hour.”
With a cautious eye, Ashley surveyed the family across the gate area. The toddler looked especially deadly with the sugar-infused, “I haven’t had my nap” laughter. If there were justice in the world, Ashley would be on aisle seven and the family would be on aisle thirty-seven. It wasn’t that she hated kids—some day she would probably want them—but squishy hormones didn’t automatically translate to the apocalyptical desire to spend more time in the terror-filled skies.
She leaned her head against the back of the hard chair and closed her eyes, blocking out the noise and chaos that was O’Hare. Today’s hellish air travel conditions seemed the price she was going to have to pay for being too cowardly to call. But how did you pick up the phone and explain this new, tougher Ashley? It seemed…wimpy and undetermined. This was a conversation she needed to have in person. She wanted to look in his eyes, watch them melt to an earthy green or freeze to an icy black and then she would know where they stood.
“Ladies and gents, the flight is in. We’ll let the New York passengers depart, and then we’ll send in the maintenance crew, and before you know it, you’ll be on your way.”
At last. The doors opened and the passengers streamed out. Ashley watched them emerge: one woman in a clever royal-blue shirt dress with great lines, a teenager in a leather jacket, boot-cut jeans tucked into boots, a woman in a suit, circa 1940, totally Casablanca, with a cinched jacket that would be killer uncomfortable. While she pondered whether style should trump comfort, she nearly missed the next passenger, but her heart knew, her mind knew, and her eyes widened at the man in khakis and a blue button-down shirt.
There was a lined crease in the khakis because it took a seriously neat man to iron his khakis. The soft brown hair was longer than before, badly in need of a trim, and that cowlick on the back…her fingers ached to soothe it.
His gaze met hers, dark brows arched in surprise, but he didn’t smile, and she wished he would smile. Her heart pinched with something easily identified as fear, but now there was something new. Hope. David was here. Surely that had to count for something.
He took the seat across from her, legs splayed, his hands hard on his thighs. “You’re arriving or departing?” he asked, still not smiling, and there was an intensity in his face that gave her a nervous chill.
She licked her lips, his eyes followed the movement, her body lit like a match, and she wished they could simply fall into bed. Everything was so much easier when it was only passion. When this had first started, passion was her only purpose. It was fun, pleasurable, and she didn’t have to worry about getting hurt. Somewhere along the way, her heart had started taking risks again. Following the lead of her brave heart, Ashley took a deep breath. This was it, do or die. “I was flying to New York.”
“For business?” he asked, in a voice that indicated he wasn’t taking risks yet. Okay, fine.
“No.”
“You didn’t call.”
“I was afraid you wouldn’t talk to me, that you would think that I wasn’t serious. I thought if I got on a plane, and left my life here, you would know I was serious.”
“That’s what you’re doing?”
Still he was forcing her farther out on the ledge. Ashley raised her chin. “I have a broker who’s looking for a buyer for the stores.”
“Wow.”
He didn’t look happy, only shocked. She didn’t need shock, she needed agreement, concurrence, some sort of sign that she had not just jumped out of the airplane without a chute.
“You were right,” she told him, and that caught his attention in a way that store-selling and Ashley’s potential relocation plans had not.
“About what?” he asked, his eyes curious, and maybe, hopefully, thawing just a little.
“I told Val that I was moving because I thought I was holding her back. As long as I was there to protect her, she wouldn’t trust herself, and she needs to learn to trust herself. To know that she’s strong enough solo.”
“You told her that?” He was surprised. She could hear it, and she was inordinately pleased that she had surprised him. He didn’t know how much he had taught her.
“I did.”
“How’d she take it?”
“Better than most anyone could have imagined,” she said, glancing down at his carry-on. The same tidy black hard-sided Samsonite that she knew by sight. She’d been so caught up in her own worries that she’d neglected th
e obvious. “Why are you here?”
For a second he hesitated, his eyes reluctant. “I thought you might need me,” he said, his voice low, nervous. So, Ashley wasn’t the only one who didn’t like standing on the ledge.
“Even though you thought I was making a mistake?” Perhaps there was some cockiness in her tone.
He nodded. “I stayed away as long as I could, but I need you, Ashley.” As he talked, the words ran faster. “You should know that I’m a very responsible man, but can be stubborn when I know I’m right. Yes, I have taken defensive driving, but sometimes, a lot of times, sensitivity escapes me, and I have only picked up strange women in airports once, and it was the best day of my entire life.” When he looked at her with pleading eyes, everything fell into place. David was terrified.
Her mouth twitched into almost a smile because honestly, standing out on a ledge was so much nicer when you had someone to share it with. “Twice.”
“What?”
“You have only picked up strange women in airports twice.”
“Are you toying with me, Ashley Larsen?”
“I am.”
His chest heaved with a visible sigh. “I brought you a present.”
“I love your presents.”
“I know,” he said, holding out a small box wrapped in gold.
She ripped off the paper to reveal…“Aliens. Look at you.”
“It’s horror, yet sci-fi as well. I felt it was symbolic.” He was blushing. She loved that he blushed. He was so strong, and so arrogant, and so stubborn…and yet, then he did these foolish things that pulled at her heart.
“How many copies did you buy?” she asked, not wanting to admit that her heart could be bought with such a trivial gift as classic-horror DVDs.
“Only one,” he answered, his voice amused.
“I like the sound of that. No more long-distance television co-watching.”
“Nope. If I want to grab you, I have that right.”
At that moment, she wanted to touch him, but some invisible hand held her back. Always before they had jumped to the physical first, but this time there were things that needed to be said.
“I love you. You should know that there’s baggage in my family and it will probably always be there.”
He took her hand, stroking his thumb over her palm. “I love you, too, Ash, and we’ll work through it with Val.”
“Maybe, but for now, I want to see how she does.”
“Maybe she’ll do fine.”
“I don’t know, but I haven’t tried moving away before. Maybe it’ll do good.”
She could feel his strength flowing through her, into her. Someday she would tell him how very desperately she needed him, but not today.
“I found a place for you,” he offered, and she was immediately insulted.
“I thought I could live with you. What was all that, ‘come live with me and be my love’? No, buddy, once those words were out, you were tied to me for life in ways you could not imagine.”
“Not an apartment. A shop. It’s in Brooklyn, not far from Enrique because I think your sartorial sign is very Park Slope. All new moms and a more sophisticated palette. Chelsea, Soho? That’s not you.”
“I could be Chelsea,” she told him because she didn’t want to be Brooklyn. She wanted to be überChelsea, the cutting edge of style and aesthetic.
David launched a defense of his own position. “I don’t know, Ashley. Chelsea? Do you know what happens there? It’s pencil skirts and stilettos and red-lined capes and finger-cut opera gloves that come up to the neck, and lots of gold chains. Very avant-garde. It’s not your signature. Your style is very traditional. Never argue with your style.”
Ashley looked down at the trademarked Ashley Larsen flounce skirt, now pleasingly paired with boots—albeit classical ones—and a V-neck buttercup sweater that was best defined as “traditional.”
She gazed at him, he gazed back with his trademark “I’m right” eyebrow-quirk, and at that moment, all was perfect in her world.
“Flight ten-eighty-seven to New York is now boarding. First class, or passengers with small children are now invited to board.”
Ashley perked up at the announcement. “That’s my flight.”
Instantly David frowned. “You don’t want to go on this flight. Did you see the sadistic gleam in that kid’s eyes? He’s going to scream the whole way, and I swear those were Cheerios in his hands that he was firing like missiles. You’ll end up with a splitting headache that no aspirin can cure, and who wants to start off in New York with a splitting headache and cleavage full of breakfast cereal?”
“You have a better idea?” she asked, surprised. She had suspected that he would want to depart Chicago as fast as he could.
“Oh, yeah. Here’s the deal, you miss the flight, and the airline will honor the ticket later, possibly charge you a change fee, but if you have the right connections, they’ll even waive that.”
“And you have the right connections?”
“I can be persuasive. I know, it’s hard to believe, but yes, the airlines love me.”
“You want to go with me back to the house?”
David looked at her with horror. “Are you kidding? No way.” He picked up her carry-on, slung it over his shoulder. “I know this room. Honestly. It’s great. There’s some noise from the planes, but you get used to it really fast.”
She got up, left the crowded gate area and began to follow him. She was going to follow him anywhere. “Twice. This is definitely twice.”
He glanced over, his eyes were earnest. “So this is working?”
“Like a charm.” They passed the newsstand, and familiar memories came rushing back, but this time, there wasn’t any nervous reaction, no worries. This was right. This was fate. “Do we need to stop for supplies?”
He turned to stare, disappointment covering his face. “Do I look like a man who comes unprepared?”
“No.”
“You keep underestimating me, Ash.”
“You are so full of yourself, David,” she said, catching his hand.
He bent low, whispered into her ear. “I want you full of myself.”
“Pervert,” she whispered back.
“I’m a guy. Sue me.”
“I love you, David.”
“Love you, too, Ash.”
And from somewhere behind them, the passengers boarded the plane, departing Chicago for New York. Tomorrow Ashley would worry about the flight. Right now, she only needed one thing, and she had him.
David.
Epilogue
IT WAS A SNOWY Chicago day in January, the very first day to be exact, and there was a small rental truck parked outside the Larsen house. The truck was loaded with boxes, mostly containing an assortment of shoes, skirts, sweaters, shirts and hats. These were Ashley’s belongings, and she was torn between needing to organize both her old life and her new one all at the same time.
“Prudence Mayhew was telling me about Saks,” Brianna chirped, trailing behind her aunt, while Ashley shuttled boxes from her bedroom to the front hallway. “I want to shop Saks. I could get some new boots, like yours, Aunt Ash. Those are killer boots.”
Val shook her head ruefully. “Those are your genes, Ash. Not mine.”
Every now and then, Ashley would stop and study her sister, waiting for her to crack or fall apart, but she never did. Val was holding up fine. Maybe this would work after all.
From the living room, David hefted a box on his shoulder. As the muscles rippled in his arms and his back, Ashley found herself feeling a little flushed.
Val sighed. “Nothing like watching a strong man do good physical work.”
“Play your cards right, little sister, and you, too, could win one for your very own.”
Their mother stepped into the room, carrying one of Ashley’s old photo albums and handing it over. “Let’s not put the cart before the horse. Val has a lot of work to do—”
“Which she will,” Ashley assured her sis
ter.
“—before she’s ready to tackle a man.”
Wisely, David ignored the women and kept hauling boxes back and forth. This took longer than it should due to the fact that Ashley’s mother kept finding old boxes of Ashley memorabilia tucked throughout the house.
While her mother went to retrieve another of Ashley’s boxes, Ashley took the time to go over her final instructions.
“Brianna, you have the folders all organized for your mom?”
“Bills, reminders, school junk and important papers.”
Ashley nodded. “Very good. Now, Val, if you need to find something, ask Brianna, and she’ll know where to start looking.”
David came back into the house, snow dusting his hair and the shoulders of his coat. “Last box,” he said, and Ashley noticed the look that passed between him and Val. There was a truce, although Val still had issues with him, but David had been…dare she say it? Sensitive.
Of course, Val had been on her best behavior, making a meeting every day, showing up for work early and keeping Brianna up-to-date on school to-dos.
Feeling brave enough to leave them alone, Ashley pulled Brianna back into her bedroom, which looked sadly bereft without her pictures, her collection of hats and the pile of magazines strewn by her bed. She ducked into the closet and pulled out a shoe box.
Solemnly, she put a hand over the lid before Brianna could lift it.
“This is a very, very important secret, Brianna. I’m going to make you give me the world’s best promise that you will keep it.”
“I’m very bad at secrets, Aunt Ash. I open my mouth and the truth flies out.”
Ashley’s mouth quirked at the corners. “Yes, I know, we all have our weaknesses, but you have to promise. It’s for your mother.”
At that, Brianna nodded once. “I swear. What am I swearing for?”
Ashley patted the box. “Sometimes your mother might have problems. You know, big problems, and her voice will get extra screechy, and when that happens, and she’s using a lot of really bad words and you’re worried about her, I want you to come in my room, grab the box and give it to her.”
“Like a present?”
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